State Trustees Australia Foundation Newsletter – Issue 7

Commemorating World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2018

Welcome to the latest edition of State Trustees Australia Foundation newsletter.
In this edition you can read about:

Elder abuse prevention and response

New dementia care research funding

Helping students’ emotional wellbeing through mindfulness

Helping people with tuberculosis through the John Burge Trust Fund

Grant applications opening soon

Elder abuse prevention and response

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is commemorated each year on 15 June and acts as an international day to openly condemn the abuse of older people. State Trustees Australia Foundation is committed to building awareness of this important community issue and funding elder abuse prevention and response programs. This includes helping charities that address ageism and work with older Australians to participate fully in economic, social and family life.

Elder abuse screening tool
As part of its commitment to addressing elder abuse, State Trustees Australia Foundation recently funded the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) to trial a new Elder Abuse Screening Instrument (AUSI) in a hospital setting.

In 2016, NARI received an initial grant from the Foundation for a project that sought to identify the best elder abuse screening tool for organisations to use. Through the study, NARI identified that there is currently no suitable screening tool which led to the development of the AUSI. A Victorian-first, this tool aims to identify cases of elder abuse and provide appropriate referrals. The tool will be tested and refined through a co-design process with St Vincent’s Hospital.

Research into Alzheimer’s Disease

State Trustees Australia Foundation has a focus on helping those disadvantaged by ageing, disability and mental health. This extends to our Medical Research grants program which focuses on dementia care research.

Monash University has received over $65,000 in funding towards research into the treatment of cognitive impairment in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease through the State Trustees Australia Foundation. The project will complete the first-ever double-blind placebo-controlled randomised trial of Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS), which is a form of magnetic brain stimulation that has shown to modulate brain activity and improve cognitive performance.

1 in 7 primary students suffer from a mental illness in any given year

1 in 4 secondary students suffer from a mental illness in any given year

The development of the guide was funded by the State Trustees Australia Foundation in April 2017.

Helping people with tuberculosis – John Burge Trust Fund

John Burge passed away in August 1941, aged 27, at the Lister Hospital in Townsville, Queensland. Through his will, a trust was established to assist sufferers of tuberculosis.

While tuberculosis is thought of by many as a historical disease, for millions of people in the developing world it is still very much a key health problem and one of the top 10 causes of deaths globally. According to the World Health Organisation, in 2016 there were 1.7 million deaths from the disease, despite it being treatable and curable. The World Health Organisation End TB Strategy (2014) has set global targets to reduce deaths by 90% and cut new cases by 80% over the fifteen years to 2030.

In 2018, the John Burge Trust Fund provided funding to the Burnet Institute to pilot and evaluate a family-based TB care and prevention model in Papua New Guinea, in collaboration with Port Moresby General Hospital. Funding was also provided by the John Burge Trust Fund to Murdoch Children’s Research Institute to implement a screening and management model for household contact of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases in Mongolia.

State Trustees is the trustee of the John Burge Trust Fund, which has distributed more than $2 million since its inception.

Current Funding Opportunities

Grassroots grants for ageing, disability and mental health support initiatives

State Trustees Australia Foundation Grassroots Grants program provides support to community organisations.The program aims to help those disadvantaged by ageing, disability and mental health through social inclusion and social participation.